Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Jan 18;27(3):616.
doi: 10.3390/molecules27030616.

Multidrug Resistance (MDR): A Widespread Phenomenon in Pharmacological Therapies

Alessia Catalano  1 , Domenico Iacopetta  2 , Jessica Ceramella  2 , Domenica Scumaci  3 , Federica Giuzio  4 , Carmela Saturnino  5 , Stefano Aquaro  2 , Camillo Rosano  6 , Maria Stefania Sinicropi  2
Affiliations
Review

Multidrug Resistance (MDR): A Widespread Phenomenon in Pharmacological Therapies

Alessia Catalano et al. Molecules. .

Abstract

Multidrug resistance is a leading concern in public health. It describes a complex phenotype whose predominant feature is resistance to a wide range of structurally unrelated cytotoxic compounds, many of which are anticancer agents. Multidrug resistance may be also related to antimicrobial drugs, and is known to be one of the most serious global public health threats of this century. Indeed, this phenomenon has increased both mortality and morbidity as a consequence of treatment failures and its incidence in healthcare costs. The large amounts of antibiotics used in human therapies, as well as for farm animals and even for fishes in aquaculture, resulted in the selection of pathogenic bacteria resistant to multiple drugs. It is not negligible that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic may further contribute to antimicrobial resistance. In this paper, multidrug resistance and antimicrobial resistance are underlined, focusing on the therapeutic options to overcome these obstacles in drug treatments. Lastly, some recent studies on nanodrug delivery systems have been reviewed since they may represent a significant approach for overcoming resistance.

Keywords: AMR; MDR; antibiotics; anticancer agents; antimicrobial resistance; bacteria; bacterial resistance; multidrug resistance.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Mechanisms of antimicrobial and anticancer drug resistance.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Wang J., Seebacher N., Shi H., Kan Q., Duan Z. Novel strategies to prevent the development of multidrug resistance (MDR) in cancer. Oncotarget. 2017;8:84559–84571. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.19187. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Iacopetta D., Rosano C., Sirignano M., Mariconda A., Ceramella J., Ponassi M., Saturnino C., Sinicropi M.S., Longo P. Is the way to fight cancer paved with gold? Metal-based carbene complexes with multiple and fascinating biological features. Pharmaceuticals. 2020;13:91. doi: 10.3390/ph13050091. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Thomas C., Tampe R. Structural and mechanistic principles of ABC transporters. Annu. Rev. Biochem. 2020;89:605–636. doi: 10.1146/annurev-biochem-011520-105201. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Liu X. ABC Family Transporters. Adv. Exp. Med. Biol. 2019;1141:13–100. - PubMed
    1. Yang X., Liu K. P-gp inhibition-based strategies for modulating pharmacokinetics of anticancer drugs: An update. Curr. Drug Metab. 2016;17:806–826. doi: 10.2174/1389200217666160629112717. - DOI - PubMed

Substances

LinkOut - more resources